Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Loverboy Lance.

His favorite season has always been summer.

What can he say? Water is his element! Fire too, honestly-but that’s beside the point.

Summer brings back memories of sun-drenched days spent surfing the coast, melting ice cream cones, fizzy pop music blasting from old speakers, and greasy garlic knots from the pizza shack by the boardwalk. It’s ocean waves crashing in his ears, sand stuck between his toes, the salty breeze in his hair, seashells in his pockets, and that unmistakably clean, misty scent of summer air.

Honestly? He could go on forever-and you know what? He will, thank you very much.

Family outings with sunscreen-streaked cheeks.
Long road trips with the windows down and the sun burning golden trails across the dashboard.
The smell of summer rain soaking the soil back on the family farm.
Cold showers after swimming in the sea, skin sticky with salt and sun.

Early morning runs under sherbet-colored skies.
Late-night conversations where the stars listen in.
And, yeah – attractive people, everywhere!
Summer flings, summer crushes, summer loving – having a blast.

Love, huh.

…

Then there’s Keith Kogane, Fire and Air, who doesn’t remind him of summer days.

Keith reminds him of summer nights.

The cheesy kind; the ‘Grease’ the musical kind.

Bonfires by the sea, marshmallows blistered over open flames.
Dusky walks with Kosmo along the shores of Varadero Beach, paws in sand, hearts in sync.
Sneaking into off-limits pools, giggling like teenagers.
Late-night calls that begin with, “Hey, you up? I’m outside.”

Fireflies.
Crickets.
Long-winded, laughter-filled conversations over half-eaten picnic food on his speeder.

Slow, stolen, heart-stopping kisses as the other is pressed against a pillar beneath the pier, while the waves crash behind them like a musical song written for two.

We made out under the dock.

We stayed up until ten o'clock…

★

Keith never really had a favorite season growing up.

Seasons blurred together on the desert's edge, where heat clung to your skin year-round, and the wind carried more dust than memories. 

He didn’t have the kind of childhood that came with popsicles melting on sidewalks or family barbecues under fireworks. Back then, summer was just a hotter kind of lonely.

But now?

Keith thinks it might be summer too.

Not for the sun.
Not for the ocean.
Not even for the bonfires.

But because that’s when Lance shines the brightest.

Summer is the way Lance’s skin glows brightly under golden sunlight.
It’s the way his laughter rings out: unrestrained, like freedom.
It’s peeling off his shirt in one dramatic swoop, then dragging Keith into the ocean waves.
It’s the way he sings off-key to every pop song on the radio, sunglasses crooked, hair a mess, mouth full of chocolate ice cream.

Lance is summer.
Loud, warm, unapologetically alive.

But, the part that stays with Keith the most isn’t the noise – It’s the quiet.

It’s summer nights that live in his bones.
The way Lance curls up next to him after a long day, feet cold, heart open.
The glow of fireflies blinking between blades of grass while Kosmo snores in the safety of their porch.
The scent of coconut and vanilla shampoo as Lance falls asleep on his chest.

It’s the way Lance holds his hand like he means it.

The way he says “I love you” in a dozen tiny ways – through shared fries, forehead kisses, and fingers brushing across the small of Keith’s back when no one’s watching.

And one night, a heat of the moment kiss behind the beach pier during one hot summer night, Keith felt like time stopped. The world tilted. The tide knew something had changed. 

Keith had never thought of summer as his favourite.

But now?

Now he wants to bottle every summer night with Lance and keep it close, like a secret he’ll never let go of.

Summer dreams, 

Ripped at the seams,

Bu-ut, oh…

★

Grease aside, it’s been over a year and a half post-war and Lance helps out his family on a small farm near the Garrison. 

Keith comes by as often as he can, and so naturally, they had a few summer moments of their own post-war, one thing led to another, and they toed the line into dating. 

He needed a break after all the rough housing and near deaths they all unfortunately encountered anyway. 

Lance doesn’t pilot the red lion anymore; none of them really pilot the lions anymore. The Lions said goodbye to the team a few months back and flew off into the dusky sky on Altea. 

Maybe one day, they’ll come back, but… Voltron isn’t needed anymore.

For now, they forge their own paths. 

For them? It was a simple solution – for the both of them.

Keith wanted to reform the Blades of Marmora, but didn’t know how. He was sitting on their porch bench with Lance, crossed legs and arms in her red and white jacket, black top, and white and red boots. He was deep in thought in the shade of the sun. 

Naturally, being the strategic, pretty, intelligent guy that he is, Lance offered a great solution with a smile: Why don’t you offer relief missions instead? You know, hand out food supplies, get some doctors on the front lines, and be the outlier for humanitarian help across the universe?

Keith blinked at him. Then, a rich smile grew insurmountably on his face, and he smooched the life out of him. Keith only had one thoughtful point to add to the conversation once he pulled back from the mushy makeout under the blanketed haze of the summer sun: 

“Join me?”

Now, Lance spends half his time with the Blade facilitating relief efforts as his right hand man, and the other half with his family. 

By the way, his family loves Keith. Adores him, quite frankly. 

Lance thinks Nadia developed a little crush on him. It’s cute. 

Silvio idolises him like Lance once did with Shiro. 

Luis & Lisa love to hand out compliment after compliment to him for being a handyman around their house. Keith hasn’t got a selfish bone in his body, and it shows. 

Rachel, who is one of the most stubborn people on the planet, loves to tease him very similarly to how Lance used to on the Castleship. 

She’s a lot like you, Lance. 

Shut it, mullet.

…Are you jealous?

Nooope.

Mhmm.

Marco loves to nudge him with an elbow and ask about his Galran heritage. Space genetics are fascinating to him, and that’s cool.

And Lance knows Veronica locks her gaze on him a little longer than necessary when she’s talking to Acxa. She even whistles next to Lance’s ear with a cheshire cat grin when she wants to rustle Lance’s feathers. She loves riling him up about Keith. 

Let’s be real, who can blame her?

Keith is a well toned, ‘muscle grown in all the right places’, hot piece of man candy. Man, did he go from teenage brood-house to strong, authoritarian beefcake.   

…Lance also grew to love the mullet as well, alright? It’s hot. Sue him. People change.

Speaking of change.

A silky robe slips off of his tanned, brown shoulder. After a pleasant, hot, steamy shower on board a Blade of Marmora cruiser in their ensuite bedroom, he’s enjoying the chill atmosphere and the gentle breeze wafting in from the air conditioning. The ship runs hot so the cool breeze is exactly what he needs right now. It does wonders for his pores. 

Lance grabs his second layer of cream; his sun lotion, and uses his right hand to massage it into his left shoulder. 

In front of the mirror, he got his signature smile as he hums along to his Spacify. 

Summer vibes, you know how it is.  

You make me wanna make you fall in love~

Oh, late at night, I'm thinking 'bout you, ah-ah!

Wanna try out my fuzzy pink handcuffs?

Keith & Lance are on their way home (T-minus two hours to go) and he cannot wait for some summer sun after being on one of the driest ice planets he’s ever had the displeasure of being on handing out relief supplies. 

He loves what he does, don’t get him wrong! It makes him feel really good about his place in the universe. However, frosty, slightly chill mornings on the farm are what he likes; not blistering, bone-deep chilly winter environments that could knock him out cold within five minutes.

A nice dip on Cuban shores is definitely what he needs right now. 

Oh! Maybe they should go to Hawaii? That would be fun. Keith would probably learn fire dancing in his free time, he’s got the body and the grace for it. It’s his natural element. Maybe they can make it a reunion trip with Shiro, Coran, Pidge and Hunk. A family holiday! 

Hmm. He’ll keep it in mind. 

I…! know you want my touch for lifeeeee!

If you love me right, then who knows?

I might let youuuu make me Juno~

His smile grows as the key notes higher in the song, putting on some more moisturiser across his face. Slowly, he rubs it in while hums vocalise into joyous lyrics. Healthy vocal tones bounce through the echoes of their ensuite. 

His silk robe slips further down to his elbows, showing off his defined, broader shoulders and gleaming, brown back from the steam of the shower. He turns and looks back to the mirror with a cheek-filled smirk as he continues to sing. 

He’s just having some fun, okay?

You know, I just might~

Let you lock me down tonight…

One of me is cute, but two though?

Give it to me, baby…

You make me wanna make you fall in love~

Without knocking, Keith enters the bathroom with his hair down, a light layer of sweat and a red tank top that exemplifies his muscles, and knee level black mesh shorts. He must’ve gone to work out somewhere on the ship. 

Look, he might’ve knocked but the sound was drowned out by the music. 

“Lance, do we…” 

Lance doesn’t hear his man enter the bathroom – he sees him through the mirror. Both of them flare up in a pink blush and Lance will never admit to the squeak he let loose before at lightning speed, pulling his robe back up to cover himself. 

Keith promptly turns around and covers his face with his palms after getting the most wonderful view of his broad pecs, perky nips, and gleaming biceps. It’s not something they’ve never seen before (they’ve seen each other shirtless… stupid Altean pools ), but within the intimacy of their ensuite bathroom and horny pop music, the sight of him makes Lance bloom a deeper shade of magenta that glows across his marks.

Lance, pink faced and leaning on the counter, fumbles in shock. “Keeeeeeith! Learn to knock!”

“I did! I-I-I’m sorry!” Keith lamely finishes his sentence and pulls his hands away, looking to the ceiling like there’s anything interesting up there other than dim lights and his shame floating into the air, “...Sorry, um… Sorry.”

Look. Here’s the situation. 

Lance & Keith are neck and neck, side by side, and as of very recently, hand in hand. A few months prior to Allura’s reunion anniversary dinner on Altea, they decided to make it official and they’ve never been happier. Truly. 

But, they haven't explored each other, or made love yet… at all. 

Kissing is cool, and maybe some late night skim touching of skin under clothing, but nothing down the waters of trialing new boundary breaks yet. They want to, but… 

Look, it’s been way too busy since they’ve reformed the Blades and frankly, progression takes time. Both of them are happy to wait for the right moment. They’ve talked about it before, naturally, as one in a relationship does, thank you. 

Lance is sure they both fantasize about it often enough though. 

Keith showers quickly, promptly, pedantically even. It usually takes about five to six minutes. Maybe ten. But some nights, some days, he’s suspiciously in there for longer than fifteen. Maybe twenty. One night, it was even about thirty and he knocked to ask if he needed anything, to which Keith replied, “F-Fine! Thank you.” Suspicious. 

But who’s counting? Not Lance, no sir.

Keith then strolls out, steam flying through the doors, broad and handsome, hair damp and dripping down his shoulders with a towel wrapped around his waist and he has to pretend it doesn’t affect him as much as it does.

God, he’s no better than a teenager discovering porn for the first time. It’s not his fault the love of his life is sculpted like marble. Anyway. 

It’s about time one of them makes a move.

You make me wanna make you fall in love~

Oh, late at night, I'm thinking 'bout you, ah-ah!

Lance has a brilliant idea. 

Feigning normalcy, he lifts himself onto the counter and slips his robe up strategically, his long, gleaming, caramel legs on display and ankles crossing together. He’s feeling hot with the reaction given, and he’s in the mood to feel even hotter. “Keith…? You can turn around now.”

Wanna try out some freaky positions?

Keith coughs, turns around to the sound of guitar riffs, opens his mouth to speak and his jaw comically drops. His blush burns bright from his cheekbones to his ears and down his neck as he takes in the sight before him:

Right arm leaning back on the counter, left hand holding the outer lining across his chest, the lower side of the robes lifting just below the pelvic area – not enough to show, but enough to suggest – a flirty eyebrow lifted high with a cheeky smile, blush pink and potent across his cheeks. His neck and face are sparkling clean from various skincare products.

Lance knows he looks downright delicious. He tries his hardest to look shy, curious, ready to be shamefully devoured by his man. 

“Keith… have you ever tried this one ?”

He pulls his hand away to release the robe from its shackles. In gratifying slow motion, it slips off and down from his shoulders to forearms. In Keith’s line of vision, it is the most erotic display known to mankind as it ceremoniously slips downwards – his pectorals, abdominals, and visible biceps are on full display. He’s shaded from every angle, scars and line marks gleaming, nipples perked up and the dim lights do him no favours. He can see Keith’s gaze pan down all the way to his legs and feels his body taut from across the room. 

Keith looks disheveled. Lance bites his grin down. 

Success.

Keith coughs into his palm, trying and failing miserably to wipe the red colour off of his face. He wipes the weak layer of sweat off the palm of his hands, and walks straight towards his target. Lance’s expressions grow in surprise and delight.

Success…?

His next move is sweet and thoughtful. He does a once over of Lance’s body in deep appreciation, gives him a swift kiss in the middle of his chest, and lifts his robe sleeves back up to their proper positioning. He pulls the lower part of the robe down his mid-thigh and pats his thighs. Lance, blinking, puts his own hand back on the robe lining his body.

Wait. 

What.

“Don’t worry, I got you.” Keith smiles in appraisal. “It’s hard to wear a robe like that when you’ve got three layers of skincare on, huh? Slippery.” He kisses him on the chest again, lifts him off of the counter to stand, and places him face to face, standing in front of his man. Lance blinks in confusion. 

Huh.

“I was gonna ask if you had any of those travel guides we got the other day from the Dinyxis galaxy?” 

Lance is floored; rendered completely speechless. His blood thrums with solar flares beneath his well moisturised skin, and he’s so shy in front of Keith. “U-Um, I-I…” 

Keith smiles at him adoringly. “Don’t worry, I got you covered… Literally.” He winks, leaving gradients of pink and red slapped across Lance’s face. 

He’s absolutely mortified. Did he, um, not get what he was trying to put down ?

Abort Mission.

And once again, Lance fumbles. “O-Oh, right! Haha, Hm.” He puts his index fingers together, eyes wide as saucers looking everywhere around the room but his man candy. “Maybe in t-the, um, side table next to our bed? Haha… ” 

Keith, places a fist in his hand and gasps. “Oh, I didn’t look there!” In gratitude, Keith places a soft press on his lips and leaves for the door just as quickly. “Thanks, Lance.” Keith leaves like a man on a mission – he might as well have left a dust cloud on his way out. The door shuts. 

Lance feels like a long distance lover, watching the train of opportunity chug away from the station. He’s frozen in place; deer in the headlights.

He just…

What just happened?

★

On the other side of the door, Keith is a mess – leaning against the door, absolutely steaming . 

He wipes his face, nervous and lovestruck. Fuck.

That was the most erotic thing he’s ever witnessed in his twenty three years of living. It wasn’t even intentional! Lance was just singing some song and his robes slipped off in slow motion. It’s not anything he hasn’t seen before, but the way it all panned out, the imagery makes him stupidly breathless. 

“Keith…”

Even the way he said his name makes his mouth water. 

Truthfully? He should’ve just gone for it, but he didn’t want to make Lance feel like he took advantage of a moment where he was accidentally, unequivocally vulnerable. 

Look. Here’s the situation. 

There’s been some simmering tension in the bedroom between them for a while, and it has been a few months (maybe six, give or take) since they’ve officially wiped themselves off of the market. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been enough time in their day to day to explore any of those departments. It’s new, it’s fresh, and it’s uncharted regions for both of them.

He’s open to it. He’s more than open to it. He wants to do it. But, it has to be the right moment. Not in a lust-filled haze catered to by Top 40 summer pop music lyrically talking about freaky positions in their ensuite bathroom. 

Lance deserves way more than that. He wants to give him more than that. He’s Loverboy Lance. He’s been through so much, and only deserves romantic, love-filled scenarios where they can have fun and make love.

Do you want to know a little secret about Mr. Keith Kogane, Commander of the Blade of Marmora? Well, he reads books. Romance books. 

He enjoys the action-filled drama, the quiet touches before battle, the simmering tension between the protagonist and their love interest. 

His favourite book right now is a story about a Galran Bodyguard and an Altean Prince fighting side by side to find peace within the humanity of a ten thousand year old war. It’s forbidden, it’s blood pumping, and he’s now at the good part where the tension finally erupts in a big blowout fight:

The Altean prince’s marks glow in hot anger. “You can’t leave?! You can’t do this, I need you!” Captain Regra of the Royal guard huffs in the prince’s general direction, not looking his way. “I’m sorry, my prince, but I think this has gone on far eno–” 

“No!” Prince Leandro begs, “Please… I can’t imagine going into this war without you.” Tears glimmer from his eyes as his body shudders in defeat. “I… I command you to stay.”

“You don’t understa–”

“Then tell me! Tell me why you want to leave?!”

Regra turns to him in hot rage, visibly uncomfortable from being pulled out of his reigns to tell the boiling truth flickering between them. “Because I’m in love with you, okay?!”

Silence echoes in the bedroom. 

“And you… you don’t love me back. So–” Regra raises his head in surprise when a single, furious huff and a defiant glare is sent his way. The prince storms towards him – a man on a mission. 

“Whomever told you that is severely misguided, Regra.” Prince Leandro steps towards him, face-to-face, and delivers a punching blow to any thought he had otherwise with a searing kiss. Sears turns into scorches when Regra enthusiastically returns his energy, pinning him to the adjacent wall. Leandro keens closer as the kiss shifts to an open-mouthed delicacy, and he’s ready for anything he gives him tonight. The marks on his cheeks glow brightly in the darkness of the room; brighter than any blush glowing on his body.

They have one more night before war, and they’re going to make love so intensely, so passionately that everyone in the castle will know about it before dawn’s break.

There might be an obvious reason as to why it’s his favourite book at the moment. 

…It doesn’t matter. 

Point is, Lance makes him feel brave and incredibly nervous at the same time. Every kiss, every touch makes him feel like he’s freefalling into the unknown and he’s afraid he won’t be able to get back up. It’s incredibly ironic considering he would traverse realities and universes to always make it back to him. 

He wants to offer him all of his universe and take little to nothing back in return. 

Lance is his stability; his gravity. He yearns for his devotion. It’s all the goddamn time and it’s almost insufferable how much Lance runs through his head on the daily. 

It needs to be right – perfect. He deserves nothing less. But man, does Lance make him hard. He’s finding it hard to wake up in the morning without being rock hard due to the beautiful man next to him in bed. 

In what universe did he deserve this man? His kindness? His compassion for animals, children, and the people around him? His stellar charm, and his shy smiles? His loud laughter, his quiet chuckles, and bubbly giggles? His lovely, pink-to-red complexion when he’s severely embarrassed? The noises he makes when he’s shocked or jumpy or surprised?

The squeak he made when he walked into the bathroom in surprise? 

The glistening of his brown skin as the robes shifted down his incredible body, unveiling the sugar of his skin and the stunning lines between each motivated, rippling muscle.

“Keith… have you ever tried this one ? ”

…Fuck. He needs to cool off. 

★

The summer night air lingers into their bedroom.

Your friend hit me up, so we could connect~

And what are the odds you send me a text?

And now the next thing I know, I'm like,

Manifest that you're oversized…

Lance lays on their bed at home in his Sunday best (minus the shoes), watching a concert video of a beautiful pop star in the most gorgeous lingerie singing about chemistry in bed. 

He’s on his datapad and he’s feeling a little adventurous. 6:22pm.

This time, he will seduce the lone wolf that is Keith Kogane. He’s sure of it. Maybe last time was a misunderstanding, but he knows Keith wants him back just as much if his reaction upon arrival said anything about it. 

As he turns off the screen of his datapad, his face transforms from discouraged, to serious, to determined. He’s hot and bothered tonight, they’re gonna make love, and he doesn't give a damn if the whole world hears it. 

He’s got a plan. 

Tonight, Keith and Lance are going to his family’s house for dinner. It’ll just be them and his parents, and his mama is making their favourite food so they can catch up with their travels. When his parents are not in the room, he’s going to fall in his chair and accidentally grab his crotch. He’s going to give him a wicked smile, maybe a flirtatious look that calls to him like a nefarious siren, and then he’ll pretend it never happened. 

And then, Keith will take him home, lift him to the bed, and ravish him until dawn… maybe.

Okay, it’s not a fool-proof plan, but it’s all he’s got right now, okay? 

He’s not confident but he needs to raise the signals; raise the stakes . Something is not clicking for Keith in the sex department and it’s very clear to Lance that he needs to make it more obvious that he wants Keith to take him to bed. 

The lyrics play in his head and it’s strangely relevant to his current dilemma: He absolutely bets they’d have really good bed chem.

How you pick me up, pull 'em down, turn me 'round,

Oh, it just makes sense…

Yeah. Keith needs to know tonight. 

There’s a knock on the door. Lance smiles and sits up on their bed covers. “Keith?” The door opens, light trickling in from the hallway. 

“Lance?” And in comes Mr. Hot Stuff with his trusty companion, Kosmo by his side. Kosmo is over the moon and jumps up on the bed towards Lance, licking his face and bringing out Lance’s combusted giggles. 

Keith enters with a beautifully fond smile, hand on the doorknob, hair tied back in a black ponytail with a very nice, burgundy shirt that accentuates every muscle on his biceps, black pants and some really clean dress shoes. Lance didn’t know he owned those shoes.

He always dresses his best for his Mama and Pop-Pop, and he looks freaking good tonight… He’s painfully well dressed. He wants to strip it all off and let him have him any way he wants to. 

“You ready to go? Kosmo’s ready to get some food too, it seems.” 

Lance blinks, chuckles, “Ready than ever, handsome,” and shoots a fawning look of love his way. His Half-Galra god of a man whistles Kosmo over and the wolf teleports by his side, sits down next to him, and sticks his gaze at Lance. A silent message to quicken his pace so he can go get pats, treats, and maybe some steak if he behaves like the good boy he deems to be.

As he goes to stand, he stumbles on nothing. With a squawk and a hum, he falls into his chest with an oof, and lands right in Keith’s arms. His hands instinctively latch onto Keith’s muscle bound forearms, and he glances upwards, nose-to-nose. 

Oh?

Oh.

Keith snickers, hands steadying him by his waist. He pulls him in, and gently shakes his world with a flirtatious sentence and a quip of the lip: “Excuse me handsome, but you seem to be falling for me.”

Lance blinks, opens his mouth, closes it; he can’t think properly. Asshole. His head? Empty. He decides to wing the next thing that comes out of his mouth: “Sorry sir, I’m just distracted by your eyes.”

Keith has always been a man of action; a man that shows his love rather than speaks it through. And so, he does. His eyes flicker to his mouth with a rosy hue glowing on his cheeks and a smile. “Hm? I’m really distracted by your mouth.”

“I can use it somewhere else if you want.” Lance blurts out quickly. He clearly hasn’t met the concept of romance for once in his life, because Keith almost drops him, eyes widening in shock at his offer and freezing in place. “ H-Huh ?”

“I-I mean, um.” Lance smooches a firm kiss on Keith’s stunned lips and pulls away. “Yup, let’s just go. Mhm. Yup.” Lance power walks ahead, Kosmo in tow. “C’mere, boy!” “Arf!”

Keith touches his lips in a stunned stupor as his gaze follows Lance’s back in silence, as if he’s trying to decipher a puzzle laid out by Hunk and Pidge. 

Was that… Did he…?

His thoughts dwindle into horny territory and new, kindling images of Lance on his knees. He has to take a deep breath to stop himself. Pinching his nose, he walks forward.

If he’s messing with him, he’s going to have it when they get home, and not in a sexy way.

Not that he would mind that.

★

Kosmo zaps Keith and Lance in front of the family farm with a ruff and a huff, sniffing away at the porch steps. The porch light sensor turns on and fireflies scatter as Kosmo leaps to the front door. 

“Kosmo.”

He obediently sits. Lance laughs, giddy with joy as he walks up the porch with Keith in hand. “Guess he can’t wait for Mama’s steak, huh.” Keith agrees with a blinding smile, “Who can blame him? It’s to die for,” Lance swoons. 

On cue, the front door opens and two figures align in their vision… Veronica? And… Acxa? Oh no, why are they here? Tonight of all nights?

Lance’s plan is gonna be borderline impossible to execute. Pun not intended, but puns are always welcome in the haus of Lance. Just not this time. 

Kosmo, the traitor, walks straight into the house, ignoring Veronica and Acxa, to find Lance’s mother. The betrayal is insurmountable. 

“Heeeey, Keith. Looking sharp as always. Burgundy suits you.” Veronica beams a beautiful, classic McClain special smile with a wink, before then looking at her baby brother and smirking devilishly. “Oh, and Lance.” Acxa waves to the both of them by Veronica’s side, none the wiser to their sibling intricacies. 

Lance’s eye twitches above his shell-breaking smile, before turning towards his… Sister-in-law? Cousin-in-law? Who knows where Acxa lies in the found family tree anymore. “Hey Acxa, looking lovely as always .” 

Veronica steps out onto the porch with teasing glee while Lance, if this was an RPG world, would be casting fire spells at his bard of a sister. 

“Unlike Veronica , who always wants to be in and around my business, if you catch my drift.” 

Keith bursts into a laugh, and while Lance continues his exasperated rant, he feels a little heat from his laughter alone. “What are you doing here? I thought you had a mission with the Garrison.” 

“I had some free time. You should try it sometime, like the ‘chocolate milk’ I gave you as a child?”

The two of them exchange looks of pure sibling animosity. If Keith didn’t know any better, he’d think the Mr. Grumpy Pants comment he received years ago was something Veronica probably told him as a child (and he’d be correct, but Lance will never admit that). 

Acxa and Keith share a secret smile, exchanging silent messages with a glance. They’ve become very good at knowing what the other thinks, considering their shared half-galran lineage and shared knowledge of the McClain family by default. 

Acxa steps aside as Keith walks through the front door to say his warm greetings to Lance’s Mama and Pop-Pop. Acxa follows behind him, but not before looking back to Veronica. “Vero, come in before dinner gets cold.”

“Coming!” Veronica smiles and as she walks towards the front door, she turns to Lance who now has his hands in his pockets and looks annoyed. Grumpy, even. Fitting. “Come on, Lance. Where’s the love for your favourite sister?” She looks beyond the porch light, awestruck at the dark blue dusk behind them. “See? There’s fireflies out and crickets are chirping. It’s a beautiful night tonight. Don’t be so down.”

Lance begrudgingly follows, hand staggering on the door frame. “Yeah, yeah.” 

It’s gonna be a long night. 

★

This was the worst. The absolute worst.

“Keith, how’s your steak?”

“It’s really good! Thank you, Mrs. McClain.”

Lance, the brunt of the joke at the dinner table tonight, wants to throttle Veronica.  

“He’s such a gentleman, right, Lance? He looks so handsome tonight. I don’t know how you pulled him out the woodwork. You have good taste.” Veronica sips her water in evil delight while Lance clenches his jaw. She notices immediately and smirks delightfully at his anguish. “Mmmhm, Lance, you okay? Do you need some water for that thirst you got showing on your face?” 

Acxa, despite her serious observational skills, looks significantly confused from across the table. “How can you tell he’s dehydrated, Vero?”

Stress lines under his eyes, dimmed blue marks, arms crossed in defiance over his blue short sleeved shirt. If looks could kill, Lance would sharpshoot dead centre into Veronica’s forehead. 

“Huh?” Keith notices the mood shift and hones in on Lance, and yet asks the worst possible thing he could have in this moment, “Oh, are you thirsty? Did you want more water?” and before Lance could even take a breath and decline his offer, Keith grabs his almost empty glass and walks up and around the table to the fridge to fill it up with ice cold water. An attentive man of action, indeed. Lance can’t help but stare… until Veronica ahems audaciously. 

Lance, snapped out of his trance, flusters, with cheeks ablaze and marks lit up like a christmas tree. Veronica unfortunately locks in to end her reign of teasing through a final nail on the coffin: she involves his Mama and Pop-Pop. 

“Oh Mama, he’s got it bad , don’t you think?”

“It’s very cute, isn’t it, dear?” 

His mother, patting Kosmo who loyally sits by her side and solely by her side, shines bright with a smile. A nod from his father is noted from across the dinner table, and with that, Lance is about to disown the whole family. 

Lance, figuratively ready to let loose like a rabid animal, snaps, “I–”

“There you go, sweetheart.” A newly filled glass is placed down next to him, the other hand resting on his shoulder. With a swift kiss on the cheek in front of the dinner table, Lance deflates like a balloon and forgets all of his words as Keith sits down back next to him. 

There’s a swift silence amongst the table with an evil, satisfied stare from Veronica, a look of conflicted confusion from Acxa, Lance’s Mama and Pop-Pop smiling in delight, and a very, very flustered boyfriend next to him. 

Keith cuts through the silence while he grabs his fork and lifts it into his mouth to chew on some salad. After the silence extends, he asks the audience at the dinner table. “Did I, uh, miss something?”

“Kill me, Keith.”

Keith stops chewing, raising his right eyebrow with bafflement at his boyfriend’s dramatics. “...What for?” 

Lance sighs, sinking into his chair and conceding in defeat. “Please make it quick before I die a very slow, painful death from torment.”

“Aw, you’re so dramatic, per usual.” Veronica puts down her glass and huffs with a smile. She points her fork at him as Keith glances, eyebrow raised in her direction now. “You love me, Lance. Ohana means family.”

“I’d leave you behind and forget you any day of the week, Ohana or not.”

Veronica gasps with no honesty; only tormentous joy and a lowered smirk. Adding to the theatricality of it all, she places one hand on her chest and the back of her palm to her forehead, pulling out all the stops. “You wound me, dear brother.”

Keith glances at Acxa thoroughly confused by the antics they’re adjacent to. Keith’s look matches Acxa’s own as they share a subtle shrug to the other. Lance’s mother and father knowingly smile at each other from across the table. 

Family dinners were always a little more fun in the summertime. 

★

“Lance, you okay?” Keith joins Lance on the porch, sitting down with a hand on his shoulder. Fireflies flicker around the porch as the summer night time breeze leaves warm goosebumps on both of their arms. “You’ve been kind of, uh, tense tonight.”

Lance sighs, feeling one part defeated and another part annoyed by the change in plans. He uncrosses his arms and openly looks at Keith. “It’s… complicated, I guess.” Before Keith can say anything else, Lance jumps in, “I, I just.” He groans, lifting a palm to his face. “It’s fine, I-I’m just…”

Keith rubs his shoulders, concern blanketing his face. “Is it me?”

Lance fumbles, “What? No, No, no… I mean, kinda? I’m…” He bites the bullet. Braces himself for impact. 

“I’m just frustrated…” He blushes, gaze flickering from Keith’s sharp, dark eyes and mouth, and looks away to his other side, objectively not facing Keith as he whispers his next words, “ …Sexually.”

Keith’s eyes launch open in surprise with a small ‘o’ shaped mouth. He blinks in shock. “Oh? I thought, um, you wanted to take our time with it?”

Lance can’t look at him; refuses to. He’s been tortured enough tonight. “I… I do, sure.” Did his voice just crack? The colour nests across his cheeks and seeps down his neck. “B-But,” a deep sigh leaves his chest. “I don’t know, it’s been a few months… maybe like six months and a few days, not th-that I’m counting or anything, a-and, hm.”

A hand rests high on his thigh; close to his pelvis, and a breathy hitch leaves him. The hand placement forces Lance to look at his man, and it takes his breath away. 

Keith is wondrously smiling at him with a toothy grin, eyebrows furrowed and love sparkling through his galaxy eyes. A part of his fringe sits on his nose and it sends butterflies fluttering down his chest and in and around his stomach. Keith’s gravity is pulling him down in embers and Lance is trying not to bite down his impending grin. 

“It’s okay, it’s just me.” Keith rubs his upper thigh and it’s maddening. Keith’s cheeks widen with his shy smile and god, is it the summer night or is Keith just really hot? “I just, sorry, I didn’t know you felt that way.” 

Lance blinks, stunned into silence. “What?”

Keith’s grin turns sly as he forces them closer, foreheads touching. His eyes flicker to his mouth, and Lance can’t breathe. “You know… the other day, on the ship?“ Lance nods quick and swift, not trusting his own vocals at the moment. “Well, I—“

Kosmo teleports on to their laps, breaking them apart with a squeak and a gasp from both of them. Keith fumbles in pain, “Ow, ow, boy, down, NOW.” The Space Wolf hops down, not bothered in the slightest as he pit-pats away, jumping down the porch steps. Keith turns to Lance, “Sorry, he was on my ha…” 

Keith’s eyebrows lift to the summer skies.

Lance’s face blooms a vibrant, burgundy red—the colour of Keith’s shirt.

“Uh.”

Keith’s hand has been pushed to a new territory: Lance’s crotch. 

In the stunned silence, Keith ambitiously tests the waters. He wants to make Lance feel good. 

And thus, he palms Lance over his pants. Very, very slowly. 

“Keith, wh—oh.”

“Is…” Keith’s eyes flicker from his eyes to his pants and back to him. The look he transmits over to Lance is inquisitive, curious, and smouldering. Lance thinks it’s way too hot for words. “Is this okay?”

Lance, in muted suffering, is paralyzed in the midnight eyes that are so, so close to his right now. His mind loses all capacity to function. “Yep, mhm, so o-oh,” Keith decides he likes that noise. A lot. 

“Okay, um, babe? Can we, um, not do this ontheporchrightnow?”

Keith’s gaze sharpens, eyes darker than the humid night sky behind them. He leans into the side of his neck and lowers his tone of voice. 

“Have I told you how much I love the noises you make?” 

Lance’s jaw? On the floor. 

A range of open-mouthed kisses venture his neck, and he’s giggling as his flustered face and muffled mouth stays in an ‘o’ shape, brows furrowed, at the newer point of contact. “Keith…” The feel of his palm and the nip on his neck are doing wonders for him. He bites down on his bottom lip to stop a broken noise from filtering through his mouth, to no avail as a whimper lets loose. 

Keith pulls back and moves his hand away. Lance, too into the moment, snatches his wrist to stop him and catches himself as he realises his new dilemma:

He’s now rock hard on the porch bench in front of his parents house. Lovely.

And Keith? Keith is staring at him like he’s been missing a full course meal. He is the dinner table, and it’s committing destruction to his heart (and his dick).

He whispers into Lance’s neckline, “Lance? Babe? Come back to me.”

Oh shit, he zoned out… Wait, did he just call him babe? 

“Ha-Huh ?”

“I, uh, forgot something. I gotta chat to your parents before we go, so… I’ll be right back.”

Keith heads back inside, but not before turning around, sending a smile and a wink his way.

What?

Oh, hell no.

He’s too hard to function.

Lance groans into his hands, pulling out his shirt to cover the new blood flow rising in his pants.

…He might be here a while.

★

Is it any surprise as to how tonight’s events turn out? 

Yeah, maybe a little, sure. 

However, nothing surprised Lance more than the following events: 

As soon as they got home, Kosmo went to the couch for a nap. Lance took off his shoes, went to the bedroom, laid down on the bed and began contemplating his life choices. 

The impulsive, reckless Keith Kogane stalked him into the bedroom like a man on a mission as he took off his own shoes and left them on the floor, leans knees first onto the bed, crawled over Lance and sat up on his pelvic area; his knees up holding him steady on the covers, as he then slowly, slowly rolled off his sexy burgundy shirt — abdominals and pectorals rippling with a very thin layer of sweat on display for Lance. His ponytail falls out of its ties in breathtaking momentum.

Lance is sweating and it’s not due to the humidity of the room. He does his best not to crumble at the sight, but my god. He can feel, and see, his Altean marks sparkle to life as the impact of the sight startles him. He lifts his eyebrow, coyly smiles, and tries to pull himself together.

“Well, hello handsome.” 

Keith gets a little bolder . He begins to lean over the top of him, hands locked in on to the ocean blue sheets under the sides of Lance’s head. In turn, he moves a bolder hand underneath his waist and slips it under. He then follows the lines and crevices on the skin of his back, right up to the starburst scar lines. 

Satisfied with the reaction he’s receiving, Keith leans impossibly closer – eye to eye, nose to nose, lips close to touching – and Lance is swooning . Oh my god, are they actually doing this?

Lance needs to try to not fumble the bag here. 

“Come here often?” 

Keith snorts, chuckling before diving in, “C’mere,” and kisses him open – tongue pushing forward like a desperate man for water. While surprised (and shaky with anticipation), Lance lets the chaos in his mind go as he closes his eyes, wraps his arms around his scar-lined shoulders, and enjoys the moment.  

Who is Lance to refuse this god of a man gracing him with the gift of physical touch? 

He thinks of the song that played hours ago on his datapad and wonders if they’ll go all the way tonight. 

He also wonders if they’ll have good bed chem… He’s sure they will. 

Anything Keith does would be fine in his books. 

Keith pulls away from the kiss and Lance chases back. He indulges for another half a minute before pulling back again, snickering when Lance groans at the loss, “Hey, so…” He trails off as soft, brown fingertips trail up, from fingering his chest, to fingers softly playing with his hair. 

Keith relaxes in the palm of his hand whilst Lance sends a sultry smile his way with even fonder eyes, and Keith’s thread of willpower starts to pull loose. “Mhmm?”

He steels himself, softly speaking in the space between them. He can tell Lance is incredibly lost in his thoughts, his marks glowing brighter by the minute. “I really want to make this good for you… good for us, sweetheart. We don’t have to go the whole way tonight if you don’t want to–”

“Come right on me.”

Keith freezes. Lance, realising he spoke his inner thoughts out loud, tries to cover it up terribly. “U-Um! I, uh. I-I meant, camaraaaaaderie. Yup. That’s exactly what I said, com..araderie. Mhm. Heh, heh.”

He stares, knowing that’s not what he said. 

Lance, marks powering through the blush on his face from bright to blinding, covers his face and takes a deep breath. He’s refusing to look at Keith, laying above him dumbfounded at the comment. “S-Sorry. That was, um, I had lyrics in my head, um… please ignore that.” 

Sex-filled gears are turning in his head, the hand under Lance’s shirt leaves small marks on his skin as he clenches his fist (“Um, Keith?”) and the thread snaps. 

“You’re a minx.”

Lance moves his hands away from his face, blush not as fragrant, and opens his eyes to take a look at the man above him. “Huh? I-I’m sorry?” 

Keith’s eye twitches in haste. “You… I just. I-I really want to make our first time amazing – romance, roses, make love under the stars, the works, – and every single step of the way, you say or do the wildest things, Lance.”

“Firstly? Rude—” Lance pouts, fixing his finger to point at his chest, but Keith grabs his wrist roughly and pins it above his head. A shocked hitch exits his throat, and Keith gets harder at the sound. “No, you’ll let me finish, you brat.” 

Lance feels a rough blush travel down south from his face and down into his chest. 

Oh.

“The other day on the ship, I was about to literally combust into flames when your robes slipped off. You were singing some song, and it was just,” Lance wavers eye to eye, noticing Keith is blushing harder per syllable, “I love you, and you are killing me.”

Lance, unfortunately, stopped listening a while ago. 

Keith is… 

Authoritative. Commanding. 

It can’t just be the summer air filtering into the room. It’s definitely not the humidity. But it’s undeniably hot. 

Should he feed the beast and become a bit of a brat? 

Lance, curious, tests the waters.

“Bite me.” 

A pause. He almost regrets it until he notices a twitch in his eyebrow, his hand clenching around his wrist a little rougher. Lance smirks, his inner succubus breathing in the scent of prey. Bullseye. 

Keith takes a mighty deep breath to calm himself before he snaps. He unintentionally glides the hand behind Lance’s back a little lower down to his lower cheek due to his inner turmoil. “Lance, I’m trying to be se—”

Lance feigns an attempt at a loud moan. “Oh my god, ah!” He has a crack at biting his lip seductively while trying not to laugh. “Keith, you’re so goooood, ah! ” 

In Keith’s attractive anger, he clenches both hands, and is about to snap again. “LANCE—”

An undeniably real, loud moan is let out into the bedroom. There’s a unique, confronting difference between the real and the fake, and there’s no doubt about where and who it came from. Keith’s face erupts in a stagnant red while Lance covers his mouth with his free hand.

Keith squeezed his ass. Unintentionally. The excruciating silence is palpable and lingering in the confines of their shared air. 

Lance is thoroughly on fire, cheeks aglow. He regrets everything, removing his palm from his lips. 

“O-Okay, enough games for toni-AH.”

Keith squeezes again. Intentionally, this time. 

That damned smirk is back, half-formed and lingering just shy of Lance’s lips, and Lance is mortified. He just wanted to be fun, a little seductive, maybe even devastatingly sexy—draw Keith into something hot and irresistible. 

But instead? He feels like he’s fumbled every single moment of this.

He tries to blink the tension away, willing himself not to spiral, but the pressure in his chest tightens like a vice. The tears well anyway, sharp and sudden, burning behind his lashes as emotion threatens to spill from his ocean-blue eyes.

Keith’s eyes flicker with guilt the moment he sees the shimmer of tears beginning to gather. He releases Lance’s wrist immediately, hand lifting from his cheek.

“Oh no, Lance, I’m sorry.” He immediately moves over to grab a tissue from the tissue box from the side table. “I-I’m sorry, did we take it a bit too far?” Lance doesn’t respond as hot tears flow in the glow of his marks and down his cheeks, so Keith starts to panic, “Nononono, I’m so sorry, no, c’mere.” He pulls him up to sit up on the covers, wrapping his arms around him in the biggest teddy bear hug known to man. He swears he heard the squeak, too. 

Keith is such a gentleman and it destroys Lance. 

He doesn’t even know why he’s crying—you know, other than the intense, throbbing feeling of rejection, dejection, and humiliation overriding his senses. 

He’s definitely ruined the mood. 

He’s ruined everything. 

“Did you want some tea? I can make you some tea! O-or, I can run you a bath, put on some of your favourite movies, right?” Keith’s face breaks at the open tears, “No, nono, please don’t cry. I’ll do anything, I’m so sorry. Lance, I’m so, so sorry.” 

He’s grasping at straws to make Lance happy. 

And somehow, somehow, that’s what breaks through.

Lance lets out a shaky laugh, muffled beneath his arms. “K-Keith, stop.” Laughter is slowly beckoning him and Keith looks at him with one-part remorse and the other in utter confusion. It’s hilarious, if not the most kind-hearted reaction he’s ever seen to crying.

Today I learned (I, being Lance): Keith cannot handle crying for the life of him. 

“Please, let me speak.” 

Keith leans back to give him space. Lance sighs a breath of relief into the air to compose himself as he wipes his tears, looking at the back of his hands. 

“I-I just, I feel s-so stupid.” 

He glances back up to Keith and immediately soars in laughter at his incredulous expression—eyebrows raised to the ceiling, his midnight eyes frazzled, his raven hair all over the shop from Lance playing with it mid-make out, and a lingering blush; the epitome of cuteness.

Before Keith can speak up again, Lance’s laughter turns immeasurably soft as he puts both of his hands on his adorable, cream coloured cheeks. It immediately ceases his movements from speaking out (again) on how sorry he is, with no actual reason to be sorry.

Thankfully, Keith just melts into the touch.

And Lance’s laughter fades into something quieter. Something low and reverent.

“I. Love. You. So. Much.” Lance affirms, gently patting Keith’s cheeks with each word, his touch a little softer where his scar rests. He leans in then, planting a tender kiss on Keith’s lips. Unbeknownst to him, with every pat, the marks on his own skin glimmered with faint sparkles, leaving Keith utterly mesmerised by the beauty before him.

He really should explain himself. Lance clears his throat, sitting on his knees and placing the palm of his hands on his own legs. 

“I felt stupid because I’ve been trying to seduce you intentionally, and the one time I have you in bed ready for take off, I screwed it up. Nothing was going to plan and, you’re right, we should’ve just made love under the stars, or more on the lines of romance… everything you’ve suggested.” 

He goes to sit up, lifting his knees closer to his chest and places his hands underneath his knees in self comfort. “I-I just,” the smile leaves his face and Keith, while mesmerised by him, thinks he also never wants to see that look again—it’s a familiar face laced bare with insecurities. 

His voice is so small. “I’m no hotshot, I’m not even a Casanova… I’m just a goofball in over his head about his samurai ninja.” He leans his head onto his lifted knees, shoots Keith a sore look full of regret complete with tear tracks on dimmed marks, assembling the look with a devastating, wide smile. It’s heartbreaking. “I’m sorry. I kinda ruined everything, huh?”

Keith does what he does best as a man of action: he’s gotta fix it. And thus, struck out of his stupor, impulsively invents a plan on the fly. 

“New plan. Here’s what we’re gonna do.”

He quickly collects one of Lance’s hands—earthy brown to tanned fair—and gently, carefully guides him up from the bed. Standing face to face, Lance blinks at him in surprise. Keith gently interlaces his fingers with his blue eyed wonder boy. He then announces his next move with a fond yet commandeering whisper that’s direct, sweet, and only for Lance. 

“We’re gonna take a shower together. A long one. We’ll take our time, and then, we’ll do some skincare, and after? We’ll put on a movie in bed—” 

“I—”

“—and if, only If, we feel up to it after, we’ll try again but with zero pressure. If we don’t, we cuddle in bed and watch a movie.”

Keith kisses his tear tracked cheek as a small nod of encouragement. Lance is simply stunned. “Okay, sharpshooter?” 

Lance is abruptly taken out of his trance with the pet name. He briskly nods in agreement. His new smile doesn’t hide anything as it wobbles in delight. Keith, noticing the shift in his state of mind, sends a look back that’s fond, kind, and full of love. 

“Where…” Lance gives a shy smile, his aura serene in abundance and soft as a petal, “Where would I be without you, samurai?”

Keith's grin grows, reaching ear to ear. He kisses the back of his hand and Lance swoons. “You’ll never have to be.”

His cheeks warm a little brighter at the grateful, radiant smile Lance sends his way. 

★

It didn’t take long for the steam to burn. 

There was a quiet shyness in the way Keith helped Lance shed his robes, fingers trembling slightly as he slid the fabric over Lance’s supple, soft skin. A gentle, lingering touch brushed over the star-shaped scar on his side, the kind of touch that seems to say, I see you, I know you, and most importantly: I’ve got you. 

When Keith pressed a kiss to the back of Lance’s neck, it sent a prominent shiver tumbling down Lance’s spine. Without thinking, he pulled Keith closer, their bodies crashing together as they backed into the shower.

The moment shifted. A short kiss turned into curious, shy kisses, which deepened into something more, mouths opening to taste, tongues tentatively exploring and igniting the solar flares between them. Flushed faces reflected in the fogged-up glass, their skin slick and glistening with the steam, their breaths heaving faster as they both fell into the rhythm of a passionate, fierce make out session under the stream of water.

Lance’s hands wandered as he – again and again – kissed him with deeper intentions, tracing Keith’s jaw with his fingertips before threading through his damp hair, and Keith’s hands found their way to Lance’s back, resting there for just a moment before moving down to his waist, pulling them even closer.

A slip of a moan echoed past Lance’s lips, and Keith couldn’t help but ravish him – pulling him in even deeper to the void. Every shift, every movement was a heartbeat in their bloodstream – bodies craving, hands grasping, mouths breathing in the other’s air, moving in a desperate dance where the heat was overwhelming. 

The world outside of them disappeared within the fog. 

The only thing that mattered was the pulse of their shared breaths, the thrum of energy that sparked and flared between their bodies. Keith was addicted to the sounds: every breathless gasp, every soft groan that Lance made. He wanted to pull every single sound from him and make him forget everything but the water drizzling down their hair, their bodies, and in places the sun doesn’t shine. 

When the storm between them finally calmed, when the fire that had raged between them slowly cooled to a low simmer, they slowed down their kisses and shared a quiet, secret smile at each other. It was nice and it was all for them – only them. 

Lance’s legs slowly slid back down to the floor, and Keith, ever gentle, let him go just for a moment, his hands lingering on Lance’s waist as he reached for the shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. The soft, quiet rhythm of their movements filled the space between them, each touch slow and deliberate. 

There was Lance humming a song while massaging Keith’s hair with shampoo. There was Keith blowing a raspberry on his neck, and soft laughter echoing in the shower. There were the two of them – breathing in each other’s air while eyes danced between nighttime oceans and moonlit skies.

It wasn’t sexual by any means in this private moment, with the steam still swirling around them and their hearts racing in tandem. It was within the maze of the shower steam that pure love thrummed through careful fingertips. It was perfect. 

It was then, after the suds and soap were thoroughly washed down the drain, that Lance made his next move. He turned slowly, his gaze flickering up to meet Keith’s, something playful yet uncertain in his eyes. There was a shift in the air – something new, something charged – but Lance didn’t speak. Instead, he took a step closer, his hand reaching up to gently trace the curve of Keith’s jaw.

Keith’s breath hitched, the simple touch sending a jolt through him. “Lance…?” His voice was a question, but his eyes—dark and steady—were full of anticipation.

Lance didn’t answer at first. Instead, he closed the distance between them, his fingers sliding into Keith’s damp hair as he pulled him in for a kiss. It was slow at first, tender and exploratory, as if they were both savouring the feel of each other’s lips again, basking in the afterglow of the quiet moments they’d shared.

But soon, the kiss deepened—fingers tightened in hair, bodies pressing together with a warmth that was just as much emotional as physical. Lance broke the kiss briefly, his forehead resting against Keith’s, a soft laugh escaping him.

“I really, really like kissing you,” he whispered, his voice thick with affection.

Keith’s smile was slow, tender, as he reached down to cradle Lance’s face in his hands. “I like kissing you, too,” he replied, his voice low and filled with the tender heat.

Lance let out a soft, contented sigh, his body melting into Keith’s touch as his eyes fluttered closed, just for a moment. In that brief pause, it felt like the world outside had ceased to exist. It was just the warmth of the water, the quiet hum of the room, and the steady rhythm of their hearts beating together. And then…

A spark of something flickered inside him, a deeper, hotter want began to simmer. He opened his eyes and met Keith’s intense gaze, his voice soft but laced with uncertainty. 

“Hey, um... can I try something...?”

Keith’s curiosity was immediate, his eyes brightening with intrigue as he gave a small nod. 

Lance’s hand slowly trails down Keith’s broad shoulders, across his sculpted chest, and over his defined abs—slick and gleaming under the hot water. He moves with careful intent, until his fingers reach Keith’s arousal, still hard from their earlier moments. Lance’s lips curl into a smile, recognizing the quiet intimacy of the moment. This was the next step, the natural progression into uncharted territory.

Keith flinches slightly, expecting Lance’s touch but not anticipating the eagerness behind it. His breath hitches in the thick steam of the shower, a mix of nervousness and confidence swirling in the air. He lets out a quiet exhale, his body loosening under Lance’s touch, and Lance’s heart skips a beat when he feels Keith relax into him.

Lance’s lips form a tender smile, pulling Keith gently into a slow, open-mouthed kiss at the curve of his neck and shoulder. The kiss is soft, comforting, a moment of connection before he pauses, needing reassurance. With a whisper in Keith’s ear, he asks, “Is this okay?”

Keith’s response is quick, his voice steady despite the heat of the moment. “Of course, starlight.”

In that moment, Keith would accept anything Lance chose to give him.

Lance’s hand glides across the natural velvet skin that grows even harder under the palm of his hand, touching, grazing, testing the waters, and both of them get a little drunk on the feeling. Lowered lids, bitten lips, and soft moans escape between their atmosphere. Lance is falling in love with holding Keith’s world in his hands. It’s adventurous, addictive. 

“Mhmm…” Lance guides him closer to the wall, gifting Keith a siren’s kiss on the lips that would make porn jealous, and then he kisses lower and lower until he falls down onto his knees .  Keith, too overwhelmed with hitting nirvana, is starstruck by Lance. He’s unnaturally pretty under the hot water of the shower; his natural element, and it’s a wondrous sight to behold. 

Keith can’t look away. The contact between their half-lidded eyes are low, bold, intense; a pierced veil between red and blue souls. A shyness blooms, painting colour across their noses, their chests, and anywhere that skin is hot to the touch. Lance, self-conscious of the predicament he’s put himself in, gives a forewarning that sets Keith on edge.

“Um, go easy on me. I’ve never done this before.” Before Keith can even reassure him, Lance firms his face with determination, closes his eyes, opens his mouth, and sucks it in – his cock resting on his wet tongue. 

His face eases at the taste, tang on his tongue, and he relaxes into it. Both their heart rates are on fire and the synergy between them is like when they worked hand in hand together during the war. Hearts aligned and rock hard, he leaves tender kisses all across his appendage before swallowing it whole. He hums in confidence. Keith feels harder, grows bigger, and it gives him the confidence boost he needs to naturally ooze sex appeal. 

Lance really, really likes the taste of Keith in his mouth. Meanwhile, Keith is losing the plot and his quiet demeanour turns vocal with adrenaline. 

“Ah, fuck… you look so pretty sucking me off, sweetheart.”

The praise sends a violent shudder down Lance’s spine. Lance moans, muffled by his cock, and Keith feels every inch of it corrupt him as he feels his tongue instinctively swirl around the veins. Keith moves a hand to his brown hair and firms his grip. The move treats him with another beautiful moan on his cock and it changes the pace for both of them, evolving a bolder, braver Lance in the process as he begins to bop up and down. He pops off of his cock to leave open mouth kisses on the side, drunk on the feeling of it in his mouth and around his tongue, and all matter of thought flies out the window for Keith. 

A soft, satisfied hum vibrates his appendage as he trials his tongue up and around, over the tip, and then sucks up the leaking pre-cum progressively flowing. In the interim, his long hand feels the hard muscle surrounding his cock on his pelvis, thumb nesting under his taut balls, and index finger pressing down to massage his perineum. 

Keith jolts, pleasure growing tight, alike to the grip in his brown hair tightening to his wanton movements. The licks and sucks grow tighter, bolder, appraised with high pitched moans on Lance’s tongue, and Keith is borderline ready to blow in his mouth.  

“You’re… so good. S-So fucking good, baby. Fuck.”

A desperate whine vibrates around his cock as he puts his free hand into his bangs. He has to pull himself together so he doesn’t blow. Love drunk, Lance’s bops faster.

“Ngh, fuck,” Lance loves it when he swears, he thinks in silent encouragement. Keith can’t hold in his thoughts to save his life; heat echoing shallow breaths under the shower stream. “It’s like you were born to suck my cock.” 

Lance groans roughly, and Keith determines that he’s so weak to Lance, he’s not gonna last long. The build is torturous, strong – it’s building too quickly in the warmth of the shower.

“L-Lance, I-I’m…” 

Lance pulls off, using his hand to jerk him off, tongue still at the tip ready for his come, and it sets him over the edge. Keith tightens the hand in his own hair as he crumbles, coming all in his mouth and spouting against the side of his lips. Keith, lost for words and heavy breathing like he ran a marathon, uses his free thumb to sweep off some come on the left side of his mouth. “Ugh, sorry, I—“

Lance, half-lidded in horniness, uses his hand to grab his thumb – gently suckling it into his mouth to suck the come dry. Keith is stunned; lost for words at the intensity of his gaze throughout, and he can (fortunately) feel his friend spring into action once more. “A-Are you…”

He pops his thumb out of his mouth, looking at his trembling hand. “Tangy.” He swallows the rest. Keith’s at a loss so he trembles a faint response. “Yeah?”

“You taste tangy.” Lance flickers his eyes up, ocean blues to obsidian night skies. He knows the effect he has on Keith and it makes him feel desired, wanted, and everything in between. He wants Keith. “I love it.”

The red thread connecting their hearts grows taut. The world stops for the two of them, and Keith’s patience? Completely thin.

“Have you, um…” Lance looks away, pupils absorbed by the irises of his eyes. He’s raring to go, and yet, meekly shy. He’s curious yet flustered by the suggestion. “...tried, uh, fingering before?”

Nevermind, his patience snaps. 

He extends a hand to lift his love up from the ground, hoping he doesn’t have sore knees, before flipping him on to the wall and kissing him breathless. Using that to his advantage — he grasps his reddish, tanned aching appendage and Lance groans into his mouth under the water; under him. The heat of Keith’s hand there is… it’s so much. Lance cries out as Keith slowly but surely pumps, swirling the pre-cum at the tip as lubrication under the dry heat of the water.

“I have lube, condoms, the works.” Keith blesses this information into his waiting lips. Between heated kisses and smiling eyes, he explains himself. “I’ve had them for a while actually. Been waiting for you.” Another firm kiss to the cheek, to his nose, and back to his filthy mouth. 

He squeezes his ass – more intentional than ever this time – and cradles his hardened cock with swift flicks of the wrist. Lance abruptly moans, almost drooling from the sheer pressure.

Keith pulls back from kissing him anew, branching those kisses into his neck in a particular spot while stroking him at the tip, a move that has Lance calling for god in between the water dripping down his body. It’s so hot. Too hot. 

“You wanna try fingering in here,” Another scorching kiss, yet tender and sweet, takes Lance’s breath away, “Or do you wanna do this in bed?” Lance tries to pause but the motions underneath make him lose his train of thought.

“I-I… uh. I’ve… n-never done it before, oh.” Lance blooms at his touch, admitting his sole secret with little hesitance as he marks his next words under Keith’s skin, “A-atleast with ano–ah–another person, so.” 

Keith growls into his neck at the visual thought of Lance fingering himself, moaning his name in the quiet of their bedroom. 

Fuck, that’s a hot thought. 

He bites Lance abruptly on the neck and sucks, earning him a surprised gasp. 

Lance is enamoured, overwhelmed by the scorching heat of Keith’s body pressed against his, the steam absorbing all the oxygen in the air, the heat in his cheeks from the torture, and the warm gaze boring into his eyes. He feels vulnerable, alive, and out of his depth at the same time. 

Now, truly knowing your partner – on an instinctive, emotional level – is crucial. Fortunately for Lance, Keith has always had an uncanny, unnatural ability to read him. He recognizes the subtle shift in Lance’s demeanour, the way hesitation creeps in beneath the surface. So Keith makes the call.

He slowly, almost reluctantly, pulls back, letting his hand still between them. The sudden absence of touch leaves Lance reeling, achingly aware of how much he craves it. Keith meets his eyes, expression raw and sincere. “I haven’t either,” he admits quietly, a trace of nervous honesty colouring his voice. “If that makes a difference. I want to… but only if you're sure you're ready.”

Lance exhales, something tender and electric passing between them. He answers with a kiss, urgent and glowing, beneath the soft cascade of water—his cheeks flushed, his heart thundering with the thrill of being seen, and wanted, just as he is.

Lance, feeling breathless by his sincerity, threads his fingers through Keith’s damp hair, his touch both reverent and teasing. He catches a lock between his fingers, lingering on the silky wet texture. A grin tugs at his lips. “You know, I call you ‘mullet’ all the time,” he murmurs, voice low and fond, “but honestly? I love the way your hair feels.”

“Oh, do you now?” Keith teases, eyes sparkling with affection. Just when he thinks he couldn’t possibly love Lance more – he does. “I know you’re obsessed with the mullet,” he adds, leaning in for a firm, lingering kiss before pulling back with a grin so wide it shows his teeth. “And I love you. So much.”

Lance feels his heart swell, nearly bursting with the sheer joy of this man—his dorky, loving, impossibly endearing man. His cheeks ache from smiling, eyes crinkling with warmth. “Awwww. I love you too.”

But Keith isn’t done. “Nope,” he counters with a sweet kiss, one part smug. “Not as much as I love you.” Lance narrows his eyes playfully, tapping a finger to his chin. “Hmm... highly debatable.”

“Are we skipping skincare tonight?” Keith asks, already knowing the answer.

“…Maaaaybe just this once,” Lance replies, grinning.

“Oh yeah?”

“Sure.”

Keith’s eyes gleam. “So you do love me more. Got it. Noted.” He uses Lance’s stunned silence to casually turn off the shower, movements relaxed—but the smug energy radiating off him? Impossible to ignore.

“Keeeeith,” Lance groans, dragging out his name like a scandalised sigh. “You can’t just agree to that. Oh my god.”

Keith steps out first, grabbing a towel and tossing one over his shoulder for Lance without looking. “Too late,” he says, smug as ever. “You admitted it. Can’t take it back now.” Lance catches the towel with a dramatic gasp. “I did not admit it. You twisted my words!”

Keith shrugs, rubbing his hair dry. “Semantics.”

“Gaslighting, actually,” Lance fires back, wrapping himself up and narrowing his eyes. “Textbook!”

Keith chuckles under his breath, unbothered and very clearly enjoying himself. “Tell that to the record. It already shows: Lance McClain, lovesick and skincare negligent.”

“Oh my god.” Lance laughs despite himself, swatting Keith’s arm. “You’re literally insufferable, sometimes.”

Keith grins a classic half-smile with a wicked sly look in his eyes. “And yet... you love me more.” 

Lance stares at him, lips parted in disbelief—before launching a wet towel in his direction.

Laughter echoes across the bathroom tiles. 

★

They forgot about the movie. 

The bedroom is dim, bathed in the amber glow of a lamp low on the dresser, its light flickering like candlelight against the ceiling. A soft hum of music drifts through the air—something mellow, full of lazy guitar strings that melt into the warm quiet of the night. 

Outside, cicadas sing somewhere in the distance, the window cracked just enough to let in a breeze, heavy with the scent of summer grass and honeysuckle.

Lance lies sprawled on his back, head tilted toward Keith with a sleepy sort of smile, his hair still damp, his skin warm to the touch. Keith is half-draped over him, elbow tucked beside Lance’s head, one hand cupping his jaw with gentle fingers that stroke absentmindedly along his cheek.

Their kisses are slow, unhurried – like they’ve got all the time in the world. No rush, no heat pressing down on them. Just mouths moving in a quiet rhythm, soft and certain, mouths brushing over each other like a secret being passed back and forth.

Lance hums against Keith’s lips, eyes fluttering shut. “This song’s nice,” he murmurs between kisses, breath ghosting over Keith’s skin.

Keith smiles into the next kiss, his voice low and warm. “You’re nice.”

Lance lets out a soft laugh, pulling him in closer by the waist. “Smooth.”

“You love it.”

“I really, really do.”

The kisses deepen, the space between them shrinking until there's no room left for anything but breath and heartbeat. Keith shifts, letting his weight settle more fully against Lance, their bare skin brushing in places that make both of them exhale a little shakier than before. The summer heat clings to them, warm and sticky, but neither of them mind. It’s the kind of warmth that wraps around you, that pulls you under and begs you to stay.

Lance’s hand glides up Keith’s back, fingers playing instruments across the slope of his shoulder blade, pulling him closer – needier. The music fades to a background hum, barely audible over the sound of lips parting, the soft catch of breath, the occasional soft gasp when a kiss lands just right.

Keith mouths at the corner of Lance’s jaw, slow and deliberate, letting his canines graze just enough to make Lance shiver. “You always get like this when it’s hot out?” he teases, voice low and gravel-edged.

Lance exhales a laugh, tilting his head to give Keith more access, his pulse thudding beneath his skin. “Only when you’re involved.”

“Hmm,” Keith’s lips curve into a smirk against his throat. “Lucky me.”

The skin on skin contact burns fire underneath their pulse. It’s a fiery, soulmate connection; red and blue that’s spiritually raw and real. Nothing rushed, but everything felt, as if their adult activities were anything to make light of after tonight.

Lance pulls Keith down again, lips crashing together with driven heat and luscious, endless want. It's a kiss that leaves them both breathless, a kiss that says I want all of you, without needing to say anything at all.

Lance’s breath hitches into his mouth as Keith’s hands wander – gentle, steady, but charged with intention. There's no fumbling, no rushing. Just the quiet urgency that comes from wanting someone deeply, wanting to make a home over their skin, to make it matter.

Keith pulls back just enough to look at him, his eyes dark yet fond all at once. “Are you okay?” he asks, voice barely above a whisper, as if saying it louder would break the moment.

Lance nods, already breathless, already burning. “Yeah,” he says, then leans up to press a kiss to the corner of Keith’s mouth. “I-I’ve wanted this so bad.” Lance glances to the side and then back to Keith with a small, shy smile. “I want you.”

That’s all the confirmation Keith needs to hear. 

He dives back in. 

Their kisses pick up again — slower, then deeper, and then with tongue again, like a tide pulling them both in. Keith’s hands trace lower now, lingering at Lance’s hips, his thighs, every touch drawn out and reverent. 

Lance, grabbing the lubricant from the side and pouring it on to Keith’s fingers, guides him with trembling fingers, placing it between his legs and holding it there. He’s giving silent permission, and trust. So much trust.

Keith kisses him like a promise before sliding his fingers lower, easing his fingers down the perineum and into the unfamiliar with patience and care. His other hand stays on Lance’s waist, grounding him, his thumb tracing soothing circles. A sharp breath floods his mouth as he glides from the perineum to the rim. 

Lance lets out a soft, startled gasp at the first touch — his hips stutter, legs part instinctively, his head falling back against the pillow. “Oh… okay,” he breathes, then laughs, breathless and overwhelmed. “That’s… yeah, wow, um, t-that feels really good.”

Keith’s open-mouth kisses his collarbone, his neck, and peppers more along the way. A beautiful distraction. “Tell me everything you feel,” he murmurs between touches, voice thick with love and need. “What you like. What you want. Everything.”

And Lance does.

He tells him through the way his body moves, the way he grips Keith’s shoulders, the sounds he can’t suppress. He tells him with whispered wants, soft moans and broken laughter and breathless sighs, “Mmm, haaah, Keith…” that makes Keith melt into him all at once.

Keith is careful, but not hesitant. He’s learning and observing Lance’s body reactions in real time, feeling the confines and noting each reaction. Every gasp and touch is a map to chart. Every twitch, every quiet whimper, a signpost. He works his finger slowly in and out, coaxing him open with wet, lubricated fingers, watching his expression like he’s memorising each detail. He adds a second finger, adding more lubricant, and the high-pitched breath that leaves him pleads for more of Keith, Keith. Keith.

“You’re doing so good,” he whispers, forehead pressed against Lance’s. “You feel so good, Lance.”

Lance is loving the praise and kisses him with pent up desperation: mouth desperate for tongue, chest heaving and falling in tune with his groans like he’s trying to breathe all of Keith in. 

“I-I didn’t know it could feel so good,” he says, voice rough, eyes shining. “A-ah…!” 

He holds onto Keith for dear life as an attempt to centre his words, his own gravity. Lance instinctually lifts his left knee up and feels Keith go a little deeper in, a little longer into his cavern by default and he lets out a very weak, soft moan, trembling into his ear. He’s beautifully wrecked with a shimmer of red, amongst purple bite marks, blooming all over his brown, beautiful skin.

“Deep breaths, sweetheart.” Keith stalls long enough to look at him, absorbing him – the sight of him hazing out of consciousness by his fingers into his memory. He whispers with heart, “You feel insane on my fingers.” 

He briefly hits a spot further in the back that has Lance gasp, overstimulated to the brim; a yearning gasp cranks in volume as earned, as Keith continually presses, “T-There!” His rough, hoarse moans escape into the night time air between them and beyond the window’s passage.

It’s warm, exhilarating – it’s everything he's ever wanted. Keith cannot believe he has the privilege of seeing, feeling, and hearing Lance slowly fall apart by his fingertips. 

He hears the wet squelch of the lubricant echoing in their space as he pitches forward, speeding up his fingers to press brutally on his prostate, knowing the cry Lance lets out is only for his ears. It makes him want to plunge into the tides and hit home run. 

One step at a time, he commands his thoughts. No need to rush.

“I’m putting another finger in, is that–”

“Pleeease, Keith!”

Say less.

Keith enters past his rim with a third finger while looking to Lance for any sign of discomfort. Lance is trembling, eyes wet with tears as overstimulation grips him, relentless and electric. His only tether is Keith – the weight of his body, the press of his mouth, the way he breathes through clenched teeth, low and shaky, each exhale soaked in restraint. 

It’s that quiet, concentrated focus that undoes Lance completely – Keith holding back, but still losing himself, just for him. It makes Keith want to hug him, wipe his tears away, and collectively ruin him to hear more of those pretty moans fall from his lips.

Keith’s growing harder by the second and needs relief. 

He speeds up his movements in sync to Lance’s tiny moans, his frantic heart rate, and the blood pumping through his aching boner. He feels Lance crossing the line by the muscle clenching his fingers, and begins to brutally impact his prostate from lack of movement. He can feel his pre-cum dripping onto his pelvis, and he’s sure Lance can feel it too. It’s intoxicating.

Keith kisses down to his neck, sucking slow and sure against the skin. “Do you trust me?”

Lance can’t even breathe in their atmosphere. He nods, shaking and trembling in a strained huff across Keith’s ear.

He then does something irrevocably dangerous to his heart — he leans down and holds on his prostate alongside open mouth kisses to his long cock. His tongue dances on the tip as he presses, and Lance feels the hot pressure arching into him at a rapid pace. 

Lance loses his ability to speak comprehensively in the mess. He quietly whines into the air. He’s getting taut, fractured, and dangerously, submissively close. 

Keith leans up after sucking the leaking pre-cum off of his tip, and pushes him over the edge with his final words in his red hot ears:

“Let go, baby.” 

Lance bites his lip to stop the noise, but then lets out a gasp. He feels Lance clench tightly around his fingers as he adds a fourth finger disruptively in the chaos. He’s about to come all over Lance from no point of contact, solely relying on the imagination of how that would feel on his cock. 

“You’ve done so well for me. Let go, sweetheart.” He kisses his neck, tongue and teeth lacing over a spot right on a very tense neck muscle, and it’s all over.

Lance falls apart at the seams, trembling and clinging and whispering his name like a messy prayer. Keith holds him through it — pressing soft kisses to his face, his shoulder, his heaving chest — as he feels the come spout all over their abdominals. He’s anchoring him to the moment. 

Keith eventually looks down and groans at the sight of the clear, sticky come splayed across Lance’s tight stomach. A thought impulsively enters his mind at light speed: He wants to lick it off clean.  

Lance, in the heat of the moment, uses a restless hand to latch on to Keith’s cock, and another to rub his abdominals and chest. 

He strokes Keith off quickly and it catches him by surprise. “C-Come right on me. Please…?” 

With a please like that, it doesn’t take long. Keith feels the heat flow down his body and up his dick in record time, the build too strong for words. He grunts into his neck, the sounds that ruptured from his gritted mouth lay between them – a shared secret for Keith and Lance only. 

The sound alongside his own deep, huffy moans will forever be imprinted into Lance’s mind and repeated days after in his darkest fantasies.

Deep huffs and fractured breaths shelter them in the heat in the bed. They don’t say anything for a while after. Frankly, they don’t need to. The room, warm and hazy in the summer night, wraps around them like a soft cocoon as heavy breathing fills the night air. The white noise is replaced with the chirping crickets outside their bedroom window.

Fingers laced together, skin pressed close, hearts still racing. Lance moves into him, curling closer, voice a little raw but light with wonder. “...Do you, hah, fuck, do you think it would hurt if we made love?” 

“What do you mean?”

“Well… your dick in my…” He feels the flush on his face get a little warmer, “um, well, in me?” 

Keith chuckles, wrapping an arm tighter around him. “Nah. I’d prep you too well for that.”

“Yeah,” Lance breathes, giddy and light. He wraps his arms around Keith’s broad shoulders and swoons. “You would.” He leans right in – light, tacky and needy with a golden, cheeky smile. “You love meeee.” 

Keith, chuckling and sleepy, kisses his forehead. “Not as much as you, apparently.” He tucks into him and Lance feels nothing but wonder and appreciation for his man, fondly gazing at him from the crook of his neck.

He pulls back to look into the midnight melt of his eyes and has a quick, dangerous, and nasty thought.

Keith deserves a taste.

“Hey,” He grins, sultry eyes half-lowered and filled with raunch, “Did you want to try something new in the shower?”

★

Sunlight slips through the half-closed blinds, painting soft golden stripes across the tangled sheets and the two still-tangled bodies beneath them. A morning light that makes everything feel slower, gentler—like the world’s willing to wait a little longer just for them.

Lance stirs first, barely, groaning softly as he buries his face into the crook of Keith’s neck. “Mmm… what time is it?”

Keith’s voice is rough with sleep. “Too early.”

“Then why are we awake?” Lance mumbles, nuzzling in closer like he’s trying to become part of Keith’s skin. “Make the sun go away.”

Keith chuckles, his hand finding Lance’s waist under the sheets, fingertips brushing lazily over his skin. “You're the one who started squirming around.”

“I was chilly,” Lance mutters defensively. “And then I remembered you’re basically a human space heater, but now it’s not chilly and I want to melt into your skin.”

“You’re welcome,” Keith says, eyes still closed, voice smug with sleep. Lance pulls back just enough to squint at him, hair sticking up in every direction. “Do not start being smug again. I’m fragile. Emotionally compromised.”

Keith cracks one eye open and smirks. “Oh yeah? Didn’t seem so fragile last night.”

Lance’s jaw drops in fake scandal, even as his cheeks pink up. “Keith! You can’t just say that to a man in his post-coital haze!”

Keith laughs now—low and warm, the sound vibrating through Lance’s chest where they lay pressed together. “Post-coital haze? Who are you right now?”

“The shell of a man who was thoroughly, lovingly wrecked into oblivion last night,” Lance says dramatically, flopping back onto the pillow with a sigh. “Can we have another bonding moment?”

“We already had a few last night.”

“Let me rephrase, then. Carry me to breakfast?”

Keith rolls over on top of him, pinning him with his weight. “I’ll carry you to the kitchen if you make us some food and tea?”

Lance makes a strangled noise beneath him, feeling electric and hazy by the energy this morning. “Keith, that’s not fair… that’s emotional blackmail.”

“This is love.” Keith kisses the corner of his mouth. “Get used to it.”

They lie there for a moment, quiet again - except for the lazy morning birdsong and the steady sound of their breathing syncing back together. Lance eventually wraps his arms around Keith, voice barely above a whisper now, and kisses his neck.

“I really, really like waking up next to you.”

Keith, dumbfounded and surprised at how much his heart fills full by that comment alone, kisses his cheek, softer this time. “Me too.” 

There’s nothing but warmth in Keith’s heart with Lance safe in his arms.

It’s a warm, summer’s day. 

★

Later that day, Keith takes Lance out for lunch: milkshakes and burgers. 

His treat. 

As Lance expressively engages in conversation with him – sunlight warming his skin from the rays streaming through the window – emphasising each point of his words with a vast array of topics, arms and hands gesturing animatedly, a pop song from the radio plays in the background, distinctly reminding Keith of Summer.

Summer with Lance. The love of his life. 

He smiles, radiant and bright.  

Adore me, hold me and explore me,
Mark your territory...
Tell me I'm the only, only, only, only one…

You make me wanna make you fall in love.

Chapter Text

He pulls back to look into the midnight melt of his eyes and has a quick, dangerous, and nasty thought.

Keith deserves a taste.

“Hey,” He grins, sultry eyes half-lowered and filled with raunch, “Did you want to try something new in the shower?”

★

This was a bad idea.

A very, very bad idea.

In a sexy way, of course.

“Stay quiet for me.”

Lance is always up to a challenge. Always. It’s part of their dynamic! But this one? Well…

“Mmmmf, hah.”

He’s bitten down on his hand to muffle the sounds Keith is dragging out of him. It was a little more difficult than he imagined it being. 

It is kind of his fault too.

“C'mon, stay quiet for me, sweetheart.” Keith whispers into Lance’s ears, his front to Lance’s back.

He feels the rain-like shower cleansing his skin and dripping down parts of his body deemed too private. On top of that, Lance’s front is up against the wall, pressed and pinned there by the love of his life. He can feel his hard cock making a bed of his ass and it’s doing wonders for the imagination. 

Keith has an arm wrapped around Lance’s waist to steady him, to keep him grounded. The other hand pulls him closer, tenderly stroking Lance’s cock under the drizzle of the water.

Lance is evaporating at his touch. He has to remember how to breathe. “Haa-ah.”

Keith is charting a new map on his back, sending sweet kisses and bite marks like love letters –  all over the back of his neck, his broad shoulders, his starburst scar, and leaving purple and red blotch marks wherever his lips lay; leaving his signature on Lance like a renaissance painting. 

Keith is just as needy for him, huffing and puffing like he’s ran a marathon and they haven’t even done much yet, least of all the activity Lance wants to try. 

“So pliant, so needy for me. My lover boy.” He emphasises his point by brutally sucking on his nook of his neck – a fine line in between the shoulder and neck. Lance keens at the impact, feeling the push and pull of his cock being stroked and the bites pooling blood in other places beyond his privacy. His commander pulls away when he feels the blood pooling there, blotching another mark on his beloved skin. “Mine.”

Lance yearns into his hand while Keith creates a home – bite marks aplenty – on his immaculate, well trained body. 

“Turn around for me.”

He shakes his head incessantly, not being able to use his words coherently. Keith spanks him and he lets out an unsolicited moan, squirming beyond the confines of his hand. He grins. “I thought you were gonna be good for me?” He stops pumping his dick. “Turn around.” 

Lance turns only his face to him, hands on the wall and face flushed in pink and red hues on his melted chocolate-like skin. He leans his ass back onto his erection and feels it catch on the rim. “Kei–ah!” Another spank. 

Keith’s had enough, “I’m going to take care of you the way you want, but you need to listen to me before I do it for you. Turn around.”

Lance glances away in thought, blooms in colour with a twitch in his eyebrow, and concedes, “Y-Yeah, okay.” He turns towards him, back to the wet wall and is instantly rendered speechless by a hot kiss on the mouth. He pushes his arms around his fiery man’s neck and pulls him impossibly closer – body to body, legs to legs, erection to hot erection. 

The slow rubbing between the two men below their pelvis has them both humming butterflies, and huffing shaky breaths into each other’s mouths. Keith bites his bottom lip mid-tongue sex, and Lance’s blues haze over in unresolved want.

His half-lidded eyes meet his, speaking volumes to his desires, and Keith locks it in his memory bank for his richest fantasies. 

As he continues his descent, he paints a masterpiece of bites and blotches down his neck. One becomes two, becomes three and then four, and he can’t stop Lance from being so damn loud in the echo of the shower. In his mind, Lance is the museum. He is the Louvre, and Keith would like to hang every piece of Lance here for people to observe, digest and take apart piece by piece through deep analysis. It makes his spine tingle knowing their loved ones or the everyday stranger might see these bites and know Keith was the one to mark his territory. 

He goes lower, gravitating towards his perked nipple, and suckles – hard to soft then back to hard again. Lance bites his bottom lips to stop the incoming noise and releases a magical sound amongst the bite. “Lance, you’re so noisy.”

“I c-can’t help–haaah.”

He moves both hands on a mission to squeeze both his ass cheeks, stretching out both to get access to a certain hole beneath, and starts a taut massage by palming both in circles. His index fingers brush against his crack, his hole every time as he massages in circular motions whilst sucking the life out of his nipple. When satisfied, he moves to the other nipple and massages a little rougher. The teasing glide of his fingers amongst the rough massage sends Lance spiralling in sensitivity. “Keith, haa-aah, oh, oh, fuck.”

Keith, glimmering with a smirk, gives his nipple one last suck of the tongue before slipping off to stare unabashedly at Lance – red in the face, marks glowing a bright blue in delight, breathing steady as he’s faced in his right shoulder but all eyes on Keith – he’s beautiful in every syllable, every letter that shapes the word. Keith loves his breathy sounds, he loves when he tries to silence himself. It’s erotic. 

It makes the breaths and moans that constantly leak out of his mouth so much more rich and deep in appreciation of him, and Keith being the one to drag it out of him? He feels blessed to even have the opportunity to ravish him. 

Lance is breathing heavily as he looks towards Keith, lying in wait for the next move. He’s a certified hot mess. Keith has to bite down on his cheeks to stop his cocky smile from appearing. 

“W-What, what’s wrong?” Lance queries. 

Oh shit, he was staring too hard. 

Keith praises him to get the mood back on track: “You’re wonderful,” and kisses him softly on his red, ruddy cheek. “Are you doing okay? Do we need to stop?”

“No!” Lance bursts, surprising Keith, before retreating in embarrassment back into his shoulder, “I-I mean, yeah, we’re cool. We can keep going.”

Lance, flushed and embarrassed, is the prettiest recipe in all of the universe. Keith’s smile is blinding. “Okay, you ready to turn back around for me, pretty boy?” Keith earns a successful hitch in the breath and a glare that could destroy temples in mere minutes. Lance’s flush burns miles high from his cheeks to his neck and down his chest. 

He pushes Keith gently in the chest with blooming shame and embarrassment. His name falls elongated and exacerbated from his mouth and Keith’s grin turns into a sly, coy chuckle. “Heh, like that?”

Lance meekly responds, “Politely, respectfully… shut up.” 

While Lance burns in his right shoulder, Keith nests in his left to hide his impending snicker. His chest is light with love, and thus, he grants Lance a little leeway here. “Duly noted. Now turn around,” Keith lifts his hands around his waist and pulls him closer. “I want my treat now.”

His marks flicker in happiness and a shy smile branches from his lips. Lance feels a gentle kiss and a hot breath on his over bitten neck. Lance latches onto Keith’s shoulder blades as his heart quickens in pace at the anticipation. His neck feels so warm with Keith in his arms, in his neck – blanketed in Keith. They fit together like two puzzle pieces and it makes it very difficult to say no. 

“Mmm… Alright.” 

They hug for a while, basking in each other’s light, before they pull away and Lance gets back into position. He arches his back towards Keith – two hands on the wall in front of him – and turns to him with a meek, open eyed smile; blush prominently placed and body covered in marks, again, like a painting. His own cock drips onto the line and it’s a devastating look. A masterpiece. 

Keith has to remember how to breathe at the beauty pressed against his cock. 

Yearning to get to his destination quickly, Keith begins his descent: kissing down his spine and holding him there, arm around his waist and humping his cock in the crack of his ass. His hands travel down and up his front – one pinching a nipple while the other strays towards his dripping cock and grasps for dear life. The gasp Lance lets out is torturously divine and Keith has to remind him with a firm warning.

“Remember, try to stay quiet for me.”

Lance nods incessantly, returning his mouth to the back of his hands placed against the wall. Sweat dripping down his back alongside the running water, Lance tilts his head to look down at him (insatiably so) and Keith thinks nothing in any pornographic film or world could even compare to Lance in this messy, warm, horny state. He’s trembling.  

Keith kisses him to keep him moderately quiet and picks up the pace, pumping him and shushing him with his mouth. The challenge of it all is insufferable. It only gets his blood pumping more when he can feel Lance kissing him just as longingly, trying not to sigh as much as breathe a noise.

Keith stops the suspended kiss and ceases all movement from both of his hands to lean down onto his knees with the filthiest of thoughts, holding Lance’s hips in place. He spreads his cheeks apart and goes in. He starts kissing, open-mouthed and slowly, up and down his line. He licks the line, brushing over his hole in the process, and Lance takes a deep, high pitched breath. He stops to look back at him with warning. 

Lance, getting the picture, puts a hand over his mouth as he tries to tilt his head further to watch the damage unfold. The water doesn’t rinse off or slow down their momentum, but it does add to the insane picture between both of them – Keith on his knees ready to taste divinity vs. Lance leaning against the wall in anxious, nerve-driven anticipation. 

Lances sweats nervously, steeling his face and furrowing his eyebrows, and decides to taunt him to get a move on. “Well, are you gonna give it a taste, Samurai, or–Oh! ” In one sharp movement, Keith spanks him on his left cheek and dives right in, kissing, sucking and slurping deliciously on his hole. It shuts him up right quick.

For only a minute, of course.

His muffled moans turn into disastrous verbal damage to Keith’s heart, “Hooo my god, ohmygod, Keith, fuuuuck...” and it takes all of him to pull away and warn him again with a smack. 

As Lance trembles into a gasp, Keith reminds him: “What did I say?” Lance’s chest heaves as sparks fly up his spine at his authority. “I-I’m sorry–”

Tilting his head in thought, Keith sends his signature smirk. “Hm? Sorry, I can’t hear you.” Lance’s pleas become nervous and frantic, with desperate whispers along the edge of sanctuary. “OKAY, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, p-please keep go-aH!”

Keith dives in again with heated vigour, activating every nerve in Lance’s taut body against the wall. It’s embarrassing, intoxicating, incredulous that this brash decision making post adult activity fun time is turning him into a weeping mess for Keith. Lance – this time – really tries to stay quiet but his trembling, shaking thighs and the sweat dripping down his lower back says he’s losing his composure very quickly. 

Kisses turn into a devouring tongue up against the hole, pushing in and out and sucking along the rim. He’s enjoying it so much, he bites at the rim and sucks it off like a torturous hickey. It has Lance collapsing at the seams – moaning and sighing with deep huffs of breath drifting into louder territory despite his lips being covered by a desperate, shaky hand. 

Keith decides to give him grace and abandons the quiet idea. He’s struggling to keep it in and so, he doesn’t mention it this time, especially if it makes him feel that good. Curious, he has a slip of a thought that he should ask Lance to try it on him next time they commit sins in the shower.  

His tongue gets deeper, sharper, faster and Lance is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Feeling the weight of Lance’s anticipated release, Keith puts a hand over Lance’s dripping cock and starts playing with his tip, caressing it with harder strokes filled with love and care. This time, Lance openly weeps with glimmering tears streaking down his face. “K-Kei, ohmygod, I-I… Aah, OH, pleasedon’tstop, it feels too good-Aah!”

He pulls off, “Oh yeah?” and dives right back in with a smack of the left cheek with his free hand. Lance becomes angsty at the hips, so Keith divulges him with a smack on the cheek with his free hand holding him open, and a steady, sharp latch of the hip. Lance’s doors are wide open and it makes both of their hearts soar in delight.

The wet, tangy feeling feels too good on Keith’s tongue and honestly? He could eat Lance out all day, any day of the week. New kink unlocked. 

“I’m, ohmygod, I’m gonna come for you, b-baby. All for you. God, put it in me next time, I s-swear I’ll be go–” Keith groans against his hole, pumping him harder from base to tip, loving every desperate sound coming out of his mouth. “Oh, oh, haaa-ah! ” 

Keith pulls away with a look that would send an army to their feet – directed at Lance. He growls, feeling the rumble from his chest. “Next time we’re doing this, I want to see you weep from my big dick fucking you raw.” The whimpers that come out of Lance are sharp and frantic once more. 

He clearly likes the imagery, the directive Keith’s giving him in his head. Keith continues: “You’d like that, Lance? Me making love to you here, crying as my dick hits your spot?”

“O-Oh, ohmygod, yes yes, yes!" His heart palpitates as Keith’s hand goes harder, faster. He’s crumbling at the impact. Keith can feel his hips staggering, rugged out of rhythm as he approaches chanting for god. He wants to feel him clench against his tongue, and thus, dives right back in for more. The hole is puckering, clenching as he slurps and sucks with his talented mouth. 

There’s one problem: he’s still rock hard. To alleviate his own weeping concern, he starts using one hand to get off his own cock quickly (with expert difficulty as Lance wiggles around in ecstasy). 

Keith, one final time, sucks hard at his beautiful hole, and Lance topples over with a cry against the wall and a meek whimper. “I-I-I, o-oh my god, Keith, fuck," His voice cracks, echoing on the bathroom walls. "My love, I’m coming, I’m coming...!” He’s a babbling mess under his authority and it aggressively, quickly sends Keith off over the edge 

He stops sucking, moans heaving breath like he’s run another marathon, and desperately clings on to his cheek with his teeth while Lance sharply exhales with his own flooding come bursting through the barriers. Keith leaves behind a deep rooted bite mark over his ass as he groans his come out with one word: "Fuck."

He feels his own come shoot and drip all over the shower floor whilst Lance’s shoots onto the walls. Keith, shaking his hair around like a wild dog and once he catches his breath, stands up quickly to hold Lance steady; arms wrapped around his waistline like an anchor to a rocky ship. Lance – tear-streaked, still dry heaving a little bit – looks pained in the face as he attempts to calm down. 

Doing his best to keep his safe at shore, he turns off the shower after the come washes down and holds on. He lets him have his space, taking it all in as he kisses the back of his neck, his shoulders, and leans in for support with a safe and warm cuddle and a compliment. “You were incredible, Lance. You did so well; so good.”

Keening at the praise, Lance opens his eyes to the clear shower wall. He comes back to life with Keith’s praise and wraps his hands around the arms keeping him from drifting away. “You think so?”

“I know so.” Keith kisses him again behind the ears against his wet hair. “So, so good.”

Lance huffs a breath, half-laugh, half-sob, and turns in Keith’s arms, excess water dripping down his back. He leans his forehead against Keith’s, eyes fluttering closed again like it’s too much to look at him and not fall apart completely. His marks, now dimmed, are a great indication that he’s calmed down enough to converse with.

“I don’t—” His voice catches. “I don’t know how you do that. Make me feel like I’m not just… falling apart all the time.”

Keith brushes his thumbs gently along Lance’s hips, grounding him. “You’re not falling apart.” He presses a kiss to Lance’s cheek, soft and reverent. His marks flicker – just once. But it’s enough. “You’re feeling the waves of an orgasm. I promise you, it’s not the same thing.”

“But it feels like breaking.”

Keith hums in thought, then nods. “Sometimes that’s just making room for something better… like my dick next time.” 

Lance laughs abruptly, shaking at the thought. “You say that like you’ve been eaten out before like that.”

“I’ll try it with you. Not now, of course, but later if you’re okay with it.” Keith’s smile is charming – small yet sure. “I’ve always got you.”

There’s a beat of silence, just the hum of the bathroom fan and the weight of the moment between them. Lance leans in, arms winding tightly around Keith’s back, and it feels like time’s been suspended – just for them.

“Okay,” he whispers. Keith kisses his temple, and holds him closer, like he means to keep his promise with every breath. I’ve got you.  

“As sweet as that is, I think I’m done for one night.”

Keith huffs a quiet laugh against Lance’s hair. “That’s fair. You did kind of die in my arms just now.”

Lance tilts his head back, mock scandalised. “Kind of? Excuse me, I full-on transcended. I saw cosmic truths. I touched the face of God!”

Keith smirks. “As the Lord once said, ‘damn, he’s flexible.’”

“Oh my God, Keith.” Lance groans, slapping his shoulder lightly. “You can’t say things like that after I’ve spiritually ascended. Show some respect for the recently resurrected.”

Keith just shrugs, totally unrepentant. “I’m just saying, if the universe collapsed right now, at least we’d go out knowing you hit peak enlightenment from a blessed rim job.”

Lance narrows his eyes, mock serious. “Don’t make me start grading you, Keith. I do believe in giving feedback.”

Keith raises a brow. “Oh? Gonna fill out a performance review?”

“I’ll need a clipboard, two pens, and a bottle of electrolytes.” Lance starts counting on his fingers. “Also maybe a therapist.”

Keith laughs — really laughs. Lance beams, pride warming his chest all over again.

They stand there in the steam-thick bathroom, bodies still damp, hair sticking in odd directions, skin flushed with heat and something softer underneath it.

“…You know,” Lance murmurs, blushing pink from the memory of five minutes ago, “if that was your first time doing that to a guy, you’re either naturally gifted or secretly been watching a lot of educational videos.”

Keith raises a brow, smug. “I read.”

Lance blinks. “You read what?”

“Articles.” Keith says it like it’s the most obvious answer in the world. “Diagrams. Technique guides... Space Reddit.”

Lance just stares at him, jaw hanging slightly open. “You learned how to do that from Space Reddit?” 

“Don’t tell anyone.” Keith states like fact with a shrug, as calm as a meditating monk as he gently sways them both side to side. “It’s surprisingly informative.”

Lance mutters something about a divine intervention in disbelief, shaking his head. “I’m dating a Space Reddit sex wizard. God help me.” 

“You’re welcome.” Keith grins and leans in to kiss him again. “Let’s go to bed.” Lance’s face falls in disbelief, “What?! Nope, nononono, we gotta brush our teeth first, Keith!”

“I wasn’t refusing, Lance.”

They eventually peel themselves apart, limbs reluctant, skin sticking just a little from the lingering humidity in the bathroom. Keith grabs two towels—passes one to Lance, who drapes it around his waist with a dramatic sigh like a Roman emperor post-battle.

“Do I get a crown too?” Lance asks, stepping up to the sink and poking at his wild, damp hair in the mirror. “For bravery. Valour. Outstanding contributions to science.”

Keith snorts as he grabs their toothbrushes. “Science...?”

“Yeah, I made a scientific breakthrough.” Lance gestures vaguely to the spot where he nearly collapsed earlier. “You gave me an out-of-body experience with nothing but your tongue and a Space Reddit education. That’s Nobel peace prize worthy.”

Keith says nothing—just holds out Lance’s toothbrush with a deadpan expression.

Lance squints at it, suspicious. “Did you put something weird on it?”

“It’s toothpaste,” Keith bluntly states. “Like a normal person.”

“You say that, but I don’t know what Space Reddit has taught you in your free time.”

Keith, more deadpan than ever, raises a high eyebrow. “You want the toothbrush or not, Lance?”

Lance takes it, still eyeing Keith like he’s waiting for a prank, and starts brushing. A few seconds pass in silence before Lance mumbles around the foam, “S’good technique tho. For real. I appreciate your dedication to the craft.”

Keith leans on the counter next to him, toothbrush in his own mouth, and shrugs like it’s no big deal. “If I’m going to do something, I’m doing it right.”

Lance spits, rinses, and wipes his mouth on a towel, then leans into Keith’s side. “Careful, that kind of attitude’s dangerously attractive.” He uses a hand to slowly draw on his pectorals with his fingers. He stares at his pecs hard with thought, like they hard muscles were the root of all of his problems. “How do you feel about round three?”

Keith fondly glances at him, toothbrush still hanging from his mouth like a droopy cigarette. He decides to have a little fun. “Firstly, I don’t think you can handle it right now, my love.” He brushes nonchalantly, briskly ignoring the disappointed look on Lance’s face. “Secondly, so is brushing your teeth without gagging. That was loud.”

“Excuse me?” Lance straightens, affronted by the notion. “That was a strategic cough . To clear the passageways…” He suddenly ponders in thought. “Also, I’m actually not sure if I have a gag reflex.”

“One, you sounded like a dying whale.” 

“Excuse me?!”

“Two, we should experiment.” Keith shrugs, trying not to laugh at the shocked expression at Lance’s face so he can continue the bit. “For Science.” He smirks with a comical side eye, purposely not looking his way. “Research.”

Lance gasps, flush building back on the heights of his cheeks. “You take that back right now before you never see this mouth go anywhere near your droopy dick again.”

“Nope.” Keith finishes brushing, grinning as he spits and rinses his mouth. “Worth it.”

“Wow. Can’t believe I let you… do things to me. With that filthy mouth.”

Keith tosses his towel over Lance’s head, muffling his protests. “You’ll survive, sweetheart.”

Lance flails dramatically but doesn’t move away. Not really. 

He just tugs the towel closer around his head and stares at Keith through damp curls, with a small grin – a face full of cheek and admiration for his space ranger partner. Flicks of brown hair poke out through beneath the towel and to Keith, it’s adorably cute. 

Adorable and cute. Double whammy. 

Lance fondly indulges, relishing the look in his moonlit eyes. His grin grows and he puts on his classic flirt face – a high raised eyebrow with a coy grin. His next words come through softer than he envisioned they would, “You're lucky you're hot.”

“I’m aware,” Keith replies, just as soft, and kisses him once tasting toothpaste – minty and warm. “I love you too.”

★

“Let’s go out to eat tomorrow."

"Really...?"

"I’ll take you on the Speeder? My treat.”

“Your treat! I guess I gotta ‘treat you’ more often, huh.”

“...Nevermind, that pun was terrible. No milkshake for you.”

A shocked gasp pierces the air and Keith almost bursts out laughing in response. He keeps his eyes closed to keep his serious composure dry. 

Lance leans in closer and clings to Keith in bed like a Koala Bear, rocking him side to side in regret. “Nooooo, Keeeeeeith, I’m sorryyyy! ”

“Nope. No milkshake for you.”

“You are evil.”

“And you? Love me. Checkmate.”

Keith took him to the local dinner.

Lance got a milkshake (and a burger too) for lunch with the sunlight hitting him just right. 

The perfect image of Summer.

...For Keith, at least.